The Stuttgart Ricebird baseball team faced its first opponent of the postseason on Thursday night and it did not take long to put the game away. Stuttgart faced Southside Batesville in the first round in a winner stays, loser goes home game. The final score was Stuttgart 16, Southside 4 in a game shortened by the mercy rule in the fifth inning.

Aaron Lockwood drew the start as pitcher and wasted no time with a strike for the first pitch. Six pitches later catcher Jacob Clawson made a spectacular diving catch in foul territory for the first out. The defense held and after one half inning the score was tied at 0.

Lockwood was the first batter for Stuttgart and hit a single to shortstop. Weston Wilks replaced Lockwood as a courtesy runner and Jon Curtis hit a line drive to right field to bring Wilks home for the first Stuttgart run. Three batters later Jay McGee hit a double to right field to bring Curtis home and Stuttgart led 2-0 after one inning of play.

No runs were scored by Southside again in the second inning but that was not the case for Stuttgart. Dontrell Brown was credited with two RBIs when he hit a hard grounder to centerfield which scored Hunter Harris and Lockwood. Brown then scored a run of his own when Taylor Daniels hit a hard grounder to left field. Regan Counce then pounced on a pitch for a fly ball to left field. This scored Daniels and Stuttgart held a big lead at 6-0.

More runs were added in the third inning by Stuttgart when Harris, with the bases loaded, hit a homer over the center field wall for a grand slam. The homer scored McGee, Wayman Johnson and Carter Ward. Stuttgart now led 10-0.

Southside showed some offense in the fourth inning as the Southerners scored three of their four runs in this inning. Southside had two hits in the inning. Stuttgart allowed two of the runs to score on passed balls.

What turned out to be Stuttgart’s final at bat was the biggest in the game. A six-run bottom of the fourth inning put the game out of reach. Daniels, Counce, Andrew Hoskyn, Clawson, Lockwood and Brown all scored during the inning.

With the score 16-3, Southside tried to make a rally but were only able to add one run to its total. A strike out and a pickoff at second base ended the inning and the game.

Lockwood was credited with the win after pitching 3 1/3 innings. Lockwood had four strikeouts and only walked two batters.

Harris was the leading batter going 2-for-3 with four RBIs. Lockwood was 3-for-4 with one RBI. Curtis had the lone stolen base.

“The kids came out ready to play baseball the way it’s supposed to be played,” head coach Kevin Youngblood said. “We have been playing well lately. We got Clinton Saturday. We are looking forward to it.”

Page 2 of 2 - Stuttgart will face Clinton on Saturday at noon in Newport. A win by the Ricebirds will put them in the championship game at 5 p.m. on Saturday.